It remains one of the most notorious games in Carlisle United’s history.
Yet perhaps less remembered is the fact that the man in the opposite dugout this weekend had a significant role in it.
Any mention of the Battle of Sincil Bank, as it soon became known, revives memories of an afternoon of pulsating controversy at Lincoln City more than two decades ago.
Carlisle United had three men sent off, yet won 1-0. Their owner, and players, were embroiled in off-field confrontations which resulted in court appearances.
And it was all the fault of Harrogate Town manager Simon Weaver.
Ok, that’s maybe harsh. Weaver was simply one of several protagonists on August 17, 2002.
He was, though, one of the earliest. Then a Lincoln defender, Weaver’s involvement in the game lasted a princely seven minutes.
That’s all it took for the first lit match to find a puddle of petrol.
Amid the game's early jostlings, Weaver and United striker Richie Foran – no shrinking violet, either – became involved in a set-to.
It was not necessarily a case of rutting stags going furiously at it. Indeed, United’s then owner John Courtenay described the incident as “some girly stuff” between Foran and Weaver.
Not, perhaps, remarks which aged especially well. Yet the moment itself, although trifling in the eyes of Courtenay and others, attracted the damning attention of referee Paul Robinson.
The allegation that Weaver had flicked an elbow at Foran, who was also deemed an agitator through a retaliatory kick, was enough for the officials. Although the two players appeared to have kissed and made up soon afterwards, Robinson still produced a red card, and showed it to both players.
The rest of proceedings is well known to seasoned Blues fans. The 20-man contest tipped Carlisle’s way in the 66th minute when a Peter Gain handball earned the Blues a penalty; one that Trevor Molloy sent into the Imps’ net.
Even that was barely the beginning of it. Ten minutes later, United’s Brian Shelley retaliated to a Simon Yeo kick, and joined Foran and Weaver in being banished. Later, an incensed Molloy also took his premature leave, dismissed for dissent in the 88th minute.
Somehow, the eight men held on for victory, surviving the melodrama of a last-gasp Lincoln penalty as Yeo hit the post. By then, chaos had also unfolded on the other side of the white line, given that Courtenay and Foran were involved in confrontations with stewards after Carlisle’s vocal owner had been asked to leave the directors’ box.
Both were ultimately convicted for threatening behaviour in Gainsborough Magistrates’ Court. On top of everything, Blues manager Roddy Collins claimed his players had come in for anti-Irish abuse from home fans.
The furious Carlisle clash was one of 101 Lincoln appearances for Weaver, who was then 24. It was the longest Football League stretch of a well-travelled playing career which, after an initial spell with Sheffield Wednesday, later brought spells at Doncaster Rovers, Ilkeston Town, Nuneaton Borough, Macclesfield Town, Kidderminster Harriers, Scarborough, York City, Tamworth, Boston United, King’s Lynn, Redditch United and latterly Harrogate.
In 2009 he was appointed player-manager at the Yorkshire club and, now 45, remains the league’s longest-serving boss, having led the Sulphurites into the EFL in 2020.
In six meetings with Carlisle since then, Weaver has yet to experience defeat. It’s unlikely the Blues’ meeting with his side this weekend will match for chaos the Battle of Sincil Bank – but they’d certainly settle for the outcome, if perhaps not the red cards…
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